Check-holder for mine-cars.



No. 855,388. PATBNTED MAY 28, 1907.

W. J. OONNELL. GHEGK HOLDER FOR MINE GARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21, 1906. I

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UNITED STATES PATENT oFFroE.

WILLIAM J. OONNELL, OF HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- THIRD TO A. E. YOUMANS AND ONE-THIRD TO J. W. KOONTZ, BOTH 'OF HUNTINGTON WEST VIRGINIA.

CHECK-HOLDER FOR MINE-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 28, 1907.

A li ti fil d March 21.1906. Serial No. 307.299.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. CONNELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Huntington, in the county of Cabell and State of West Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Check-Holders for Mine-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

In the operation of mining coal or the like it is the practice to load the mine car and have the miner performing this duty to introduce into a suitable receptacle or holder on the car an identification check, which is removed by the superintendent or foreman when the car is dumped and retained by him for use in adjusting the accounts of the miners who are paid so much per load as disclosed by the total number of identification checks held to the credit of each miner at the end of a determined period of time. Under present conditions and owing to imperfections in the construction of the check holders or receptacles now in use, it is possible for dishonest persons to remove from the holders, during transit of the cars, the checks contained therein and to substitute therefor checks of their own and through such substitution to fraudulently obtain credit for having loaded the cars in question.

The present invention relates to check holders for mine cars and has for its objects to produce a comparatively simple, ineX- pensive device of this character wherein possibility of the check being removed or tampered with during transit of the car is wholly obviated, thus preventing the fraudulent substitution of one check for another, and one in which the check will, when the car is dumped, be automatically delivered from the holder.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which may be readily reversed in use to accord with the direction of travel of the car, one from which the check may after delivery be conveniently released, and one wherein liability of the holder becoming choked with dust or the like is overcome.

IVith these and other objects in View, the invention comprises the novel features of construction and combination of parts more fully hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a mining car having my improved holder applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a side elevation on a larger scale of the holder. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one member ofthe holder. Fig. 4 is a similar view of the other member of the holder. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section taken centrally through the holder on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the base member.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates a base piece adapted for attachment to the side wall of the car 2 and to which the improved holder 3 is in turn attached by means of fastening members or screws 4,

it being understood in this connection that the car, which i s conventionally shown herein, may be of any a propriate construction.

The holder 3 'orming the subject-matter of the present invention includes in its organization an outer member or plate 5 provided with projecting perforated ears 6 to receive the fastening members 4 and having a laterally extending marginal flange or wall 7 bounding the normally rear end and side edges of the member, the side portions of said wall being arranged to converge from their rear toward their forward ends and terminated short of the forward extremity of the member 5, thus to form on the latter a forwardly projecting portion or extension 8, while formed through the flange 7 adjacent the rear end of the member 5 are dust escape openings 9 and in the member or plate a pair of sight openings 10. The holder 3 further comprises an inner member or plate 11 formed to fit loosely and for slight transverse play Within the member 5 and having a forwardly projecting portion or head 12 provided at its forward end with an arcuate flange 13 and with finger pieces or ears 14, therebeing formed in the front face of the member 11, the portion 12 of which is provided on its rear face and at its forward end with a bearing lug or projection 15, 'a plurality of grooves or channels 16 forming intervening ribs 17 and adapted to convey dust or the like to the rear end of the member for escape through the (for the time being) lower discharge opening 9, While projecting from the front face of member 11 is a pair of forward bearing lugs 18 dlsposed respectively at opposite sides of the entrance opening or mout of the receptacle and a ICC) rear bearing lug 19 formed at the rear end of I the inner face of the extension 8 and be thus the member and serving in conjunction with the lugs 18 to maintain the same in proper spaced relation to the member 5.

The base member or piece 1 is provided as seen in Fig. 6 with a pair of transversely extending sockets or recesses 20 which are identical in form and either of which may receive the lug or extension and a normally ex anded spring 21 designed to act upon sai lug for tilting the forward portion of the member 11 downward in a vertical direction, as seen in Fig. 2, and for a purpose which will presently appear, it being noted in this connection that owing to the provision of a pair of sockets which are appropriately spaced relatively the holder 3 may be conveniently reversed endwise on the base piece 1 to accord with the direction of travel of the car. It will be observed in this connection that when the holder is disposed to accord with travel of the car in one direction the dust will be discharged through the, for the time being, lower opening 9 and the check may be viewed through the lower sight opening 10, while reversal of the holder will bring the other discharge opening 9 and sight opening 10 into play.

In practice, when the parts of the holder are assembled the plate 5 is seated over the plate 11, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and the holder attached to the base piece 1 by means of the fastening membersi entered into the perforated ears 6,. attention being directed to the fact that the plates will be maintained in spaced relation, as illustrated in Fig. 5, by means of the bearing lugs 18 and 19 lying in contact with the inner face of the member 5, thus producing a compartment for the reception of an identification check not shown, and further that owing to the side portions of the flange 7 converging from the rear toward the forward end of the holder the compartment is formed with a reduced mouth through which the check is introduced into or discharged from the holder:

In the use of the device, after the car has been filled and before starting to its destination, the one who loaded the car introduces into the holder 3 a check bearing his name and number, it bein understood that the miners are all provided with such checks. After the check has been once inserted it is practically impossible to remove the same for replacement by another check during transit of the car, thus obviating fraudulent substitution of the check of one miner for that of another. When the car reaches the tipple and its contents are discharged for ward tilting of the car will cause the check to roll outward through the mouth of the holder, whereupon it will lodge between the, for the time being, lower end of the flange 13 and a bearing portion or lug 22 formedon held in suspension, it being understood that final release of the check is efiected by engaging the lowermost finger piece 14 and moving the forward end of member 11 upward in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2 and against the action of spring 21.

It is to be observed that the extension 18 constitutes a guard which overlies the mouth of the holder to prevent the introduction of an instrument for extracting the check, whichwhen in position may be viewed through the lowermost opening 10, and further that dust or the like on entering the holder will settle in the grooves 16 for discharge, as heretofore explained, while the check will rest upon and travel on the ribs 17 being thus maintained out of contact with the dust which settles in the holder.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 2 1. A check holder for mining cars comprising a pair of cooperating members disposed in spaced relation to provide a check receiving compartment having a discharge mouth, one of said members being relatively movable, andcheck retaining means provided on the holder beyond the discharge mouth, said movable member being operable to release the check.

2. A check holder for mining cars having a check receiving compartment provided with a reduced discharge mouth, a movable head disposed in said mouth and check engaging portions provided on the holder, one of said portions being movable with the head to release the check.

3. A check holder for mining cars comprising a pair of members spaced to produce a compartment, one of said members being movable relative to the other and an exten sion provided on the movable member be yond the discharge end of the compartment and having a check engaging portion.

4. A device of the class described cornprising a base piece having a socket, an inner plate movably arranged on the base and having a bearing lug disposed in said socket, an outer plate attached to the base and maintained in spaced relation to the inner plate to form a check receiving compartment hav- 

